It depends on such an accumulation of period detail and constitutional arcana that making it plausible is like trying to explain the notwithstanding clause to a visiting Martian.

One factor contributing to that defeat was a statutory requirement that new Cabinet members automatically lost their seats on appointment, and had to stand for re-election in ministerial by-elections.

Cartier and Macdonald were then able to form a new government, with the support of an influential independent member of the Assembly, Alexander Tilloch Galt.

The double shuffle had the immediate effect of keeping Macdonald and Cartier in power, even though their previous government had been defeated on a confidence measure just a week earlier.

The Bleus, led by George-Étienne Cartier, supported the British connection, business and trade, and the ultramontane Roman Catholic church.

The Parti rouge, led by Antoine-Aimé Dorion, tended towards republicanism, a suspicion of big business, and anti-clericalism.

[3][4][7] In Canada West, the Liberal-Conservatives, led by John A. Macdonald, were a merger of conservative Reformers and the old Tory group.

Opposing them were the more liberal Reformers and Clear Grits, led by George Brown, who won the majority of seats in Canada West in the 1857 election.

That stability of electoral support for the different groups, coupled with the need for representation from both sections to form a government, contributed to overall political instability.

[12][14][15][16][17][18] In opposition, Brown began to send out feelers to Dorion and the Rouges, searching for common ground to build an alliance in the Assembly.

What finally attracted support from some Bleus and independents was a long-standing, highly contentious issue: the location of the seat of government.

Governor General Sir Edmund Walker Head was similarly concerned that the issue had to be resolved if the province were to remain united.

[17][21][22][23][24] In the 1857 legislative session, and possibly acting on a suggestion from the Governor General, Macdonald and Cartier proposed that Queen Victoria should choose the seat of government.

The opposition members had strongly opposed this approach, arguing that it undercut the principle of local responsible government, by deferring the decision to London.

In the 1858 session, Brown and Dorion hoped to use that regional support for Montreal and Quebec City to attract Bleus and independents.

Macdonald, Cartier and the other members of the ministry met and concluded that they would treat the defeat on the motion as a confidence matter.

[4][30][31][32] Having reached agreement on the major issues, and on the composition of the Cabinet, Brown and Dorion advised the governor general that they could form a ministry.

At the same time, Head cautioned Brown and Dorion that he would not guarantee a dissolution of Parliament and new elections if they lost the confidence of the Assembly, given the fluid state of the votes in the current session.

The reason was that the Independence of Parliament Act provided that anyone who was appointed as a Cabinet minister vacated their seat and had to stand for re-election in ministerial by-elections.

One of Cartier's supporters, Hector-Louis Langevin, promptly moved an amendment, agreeing that the writ should issue, but adding that the Assembly did not have confidence in the new government.

[14][33][36] Brown and Dorion then approached Governor General Head, and requested that he dissolve Parliament and order new elections, as two governments had successively been defeated on confidence matters.

Head declined that request, citing the fact that there had been an election only eight months before, and that there were several significant bills still pending in the Assembly.

The entire episode contributed to ongoing personal distrust between Brown and Macdonald, and to strong political animosity between the different parties.

He considered that Head had improperly favoured Macdonald and Cartier, agreeing to accept the Double shuffle, while rejecting his request for a dissolution and election.

The plaintiff in both cases was Allan Macdonell (also spelt McDonell), one of Brown's political allies, who sued members of the Cartier–Macdonald ministry.

In the Court of Common Pleas, Macdonell sued all the members of the Cabinet in debt, seeking to recover the statutory penalty of £500 for each day that they remained in office illegally.

The three judges of the Court of Common Pleas dismissed the action, concluding that the exception for reappointment within thirty days applied.

[48] In a companion case challenging the reappointment of an elected member of the Legislative Council, the Queen's Bench reached the same conclusion.

Following the parliamentary session, a delegation consisting of Cartier, Galt and John Ross, the President of the Executive Council, travelled to Britain to sound out the British government on the idea of federation.

The idea of federation did not advance at that time, but the actions of the Canadian government meant that the issue had been formally raised in debates about the constitutional problems of the province of Canada.